Various musical instruments simulating a standard piano with a standard keyboard or portion of a keyboard are well known. Such instruments cover the range from small, inexpensive toys for education of and/or enjoyment by children to large and rather expensive instruction devices for large groups such as a band or orchestra.
Known examples of musical instruments within this range include popular, small one or two octave pianos for playing by children and such instruments usually have some sort of music score coded to the keys for educational purposes. One example of such an instrument is the "Portable Organ 24" distributed by Lash-Tamaron Distributors of Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Each key of the instrument is a different color, coded to a number of music scores so that a child may play a particular tune merely by striking the keys in order according to a color coded music score.
A more complex instrument is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,135. A piano-like instrument has keys which are lit in sequence according to a contact card inserted in the instrument. The student plays a composition by striking the keys as they are lighted. A similar instrument having sequentially lighted windows adjacent each key, rather than lights within the keys, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,696,901. The lighted key concept is further developed as a group instruction device in U.S. Pat. No. 2,225,084 which discloses a large display board having individual notes illustrated which are lighted as they are played on a control keyboard by the director of a band to signal appropriate players in the band to play the illustrated note.
Another instruction device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,600. An illustrated card is placed over the keyboard of a standard piano and includes visual instructions as to which notes to play to produce various chords.
An invention more closely related to the instant invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,879,685. A board is programmed to play a tune by having openings therethrough arranged on a musical score imprinted on the board. Individual tone blocks producing assigned tones are inserted in the openings of the board according to the assigned tones noted on the board. Then, each note is played by depressing each block in order with one's finger to produce a pleasant tune.
The prior art does not disclose individual tone blocks capable of producing one or more notes and assembled together to form an oversized piano keyboard and music score for each note, coded to that note so that the instrument may be played by a group of persons, one player assigned to each note, for purposes of enjoyment by and/or education of persons having a musical background or having almost no musical experience at all.